Have you read the book Rework? What a breath of fresh air

I was raised in an anti-business, anti-entrepreneurial house. Perhaps “anti” is too strong a word, but it was nevertheless an endeavour I was discouraged to pursue in every way.

My dad got a job out of college and worked it for 40 years until retirement. It was always pounded in my head that I should do the same.

“Get a degree, find a good job with nice, stable benefits, and grind it out until retirement.”

Any mention of investing in stocks or rental properties or being self-employed in some way always brought reproach with lines like, “You don’t want to have to deal with bad tenants” or “You will have to handle your own taxes” or “You won’t get any benefits and will retire poor.”

And that’s all I knew.

The times are changing

I graduated high school, dabbled in college, wishing for a stable, lifelong job like I was brought up to desire.

What I was never told is that the times had changed, or at least were changing.

The job that one worked for 40 years, where the boss really cared about you and gave you regular raises, were on the decline. Technology was booming. Temp agencies were becoming popular and many jobs were either outsourcing or trading their regular joes for “specialists.” And there I was, looking day in and day out for that stable job of the 20th century.

But it was the 21st century!

Fast-forward 10 years to about a year ago. I had finally found and worked the same job for 10 years…a job I only intended to stay at a year or two. Time had flown by in my complacency.

But I had learned to code, was freelancing on the side, building websites and taking any coding task I could get my hands on.

I finally got the point where I thought I could step out on my own.

But then it happened…..

I was advised against it by those more knowledgeable in the ways of business.

I was told I needed to do some market research first. I needed a good amount of capital to get started. I needed a detailed business plan. I would need employees, an accountant, and a lawyer to help me get my business set up.

Ugh. All I wanted was to provide services to others. Is that so hard?

I felt deep within that I didn’t need these things. I felt I could provide services personally to people without all of the corporate baggage. I felt I didn’t need to invest much up front, didn’t need an accountant, didn’t need daily meetings nor a detailed business plan.

Why?

Because essentially a business CAN be run by a person with a computer, and a phone. It’s 2018!

But I kept that nagging feeling like I didn’t do it right, that I was not “business-minded” or smart enough to run one on my own.

A Written Vindication

As that began to sink in I happened to come across many glowing recommendations of the book Rework, so I picked it up and I . have to say it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Rework is packed with wisdom, wisdom that goes against the corporate mindset that we all have ingrained in us from our middle and high school days.

The book Rework criticizes the things that truly need to be: money-wasting meetings, the necessity of startup capital, over-planning, procrastination, complication, and offers practical advice on how and why the times have changed.

You can now do things on your own. You can start a business with little startup capital. You don’t have employees and you don’t have to have everything together before you start working.

You CAN succeed as a smaller company and in fact have many, many advantages (and fewer headaches) over the medium to large ones.

Overall, I felt validated when I read this book as I had been thinking largely along the same lines and have had nothing really of substance to back me up.

Now I do.

If you feel the same way, or just need some practical wisdom for your small business, go pick it up and embrace the change that is already here.